Statement by Ambassador Wang Min at the 2013 Second Regular Session of UN-Women Executive Board

2013/09/16

Mr. President,

Please allow me to begin by congratulating, on behalf of the Chinese government, USG Mlambo-Ngcuka, Executive Director of UN-Women on her recent assumption of the post. The Chinese Government attaches great importance to the work of UN in the field of women, and supports the work of UN-Women. China expects to deepen the cooperation with UN-Women led by Mme. Mlambo-Ngcuka. H.E. Ms. Shen Yueyue, Vice Chairperson of the National People's Congress Standing Committee of China, and President of All-China Women's Federation, has also sent a Congratulation Letter to express her belief that under the leadership of Mme. Mlambo-Ngcuka, greater progress will be made in UN-Women's work and global gender equality, and wish to cooperate with Mme. Mlambo-Ngcuka and UN-Women for global women's advancement and gender equality.

Mr. President,

Thanks to the efforts of UN-Women, great progress has been made in recent years in promoting the cause of world's women and advancing gender mainstreaming in the UN system. At the same time, the intertwining problems of the global financial crisis, regional turmoil, natural disasters, digital divide and shortage of public service have seriously impeded the development of women of various countries and posed new challenges to the work of UN-Women.

The upcoming review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action upon its 20th anniversary and the formulation of Post-2015 Development Agenda present us with a new opportunity to further expand the work in the field of women. Having carefully studied the Draft Strategic Plan 2014-2017, the Draft Integrated Budget of 2014-2015 and the Report of Internal Audit and Investigation submitted by UN-Women, China wishes to make the following observations:

First, seize the opportunity to advance women's development. The question of women is not only one of human rights, but more importantly, one of development. Development is a premise for and priority of gender equality. China commends Ms. Mlambo-Ngcuka for putting poverty reduction and education as the priority of UN-Women's work, which are also the first two development indicators of the 12 priority areas identified by the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action. China supports the UN system and member states in holding review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action in 2015. We support giving full consideration to gender equality in the discussion of the post-2015 development agenda and believe that women's development should receive particular attention in relevant work. UN-Women should continue to follow the practical needs of the developing countries and effectively increase assistance to them.

Second, give further prominence to national leadership in the strategic plan. China appreciates the open and transparent approach that UN-Women took in the process of drafting the Strategic Plan 2014-2017. While we are pleased that the strategic plan maintains the guiding principle of national ownership, we hope that UN-Women will take systematic measures to embody this principle in all stages from program designing to regional architecture implementation, to functional evaluation. The need of member states should always be the guidance for the work of UN-Women and attention should be given to helping member states increase capacity for self development. In the view of my delegation, the results framework is useful for quantified assessment of the work of UN-Women, but the indicators of economic empowerment of women should be more specific and comprehensive.

Third, provide resource guarantee for the strategic plan by finding new funding sources and practicing economy. Adequate resources constitute the cornerstone for the effective operation of UN-Women. China has noticed that while UN-Women's financing goal for the period of 2014-2015 registers a slight decrease, it will increase by a great margin in the 2016-2017 period. Financing is still quite a challenge. China hopes that UN-Women will increase funding-raising and explore new channels of financing, including the private sector, so as to steadily increase both core and non-core resources, thus providing guarantee for the effective implementation of the strategic plan. Meanwhile, we also hope that UN-Women will make full use of its resources, increase efficiency in resource utilization, focus on addressing practical needs and questions of the greatest concern of project countries, and rationalize the cost of institutional operation.

Fourth, fully implement recommendations of internal audit and investigation. Internal audit and investigation help improve the rational utilization of resources, ensure the health and vitality of the organization and promote the effective achievement of strategic goals. China finds it gratifying that the Office of Audit and Investigations carries out its work in strict compliance with international standards and code of ethics on internal auditing. At the same time, China has noticed that the rate of implementation of the 2012 audit recommendations still has not reached the benchmark of 90%. We hope that the management continue to work towards this goal. We also hope that in its future report to the Executive Board, UN-Women will detail the implementation of the internal audit recommendations and the results of investigations of possible inappropriate behavior of relevant staff members, so as to enhance the transparency of internal audit and investigations.

Mr. President,

The Chinese government attaches great importance to the cause of women and spares no effort to advance women's development. President Xi Jinpin put forth the vision of realizing the Chinese Dream, which is composed of three essential elements, namely state prosperity, national rejuvenation, and people's happiness. The main goals we set for China are as follows: By 2020, China's GDP and per capita income for urban and rural residents will double the 2010 figures, and the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects will be completed. By the mid-21st century, China will be turned into a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious; and the Chinese dream, namely, the great renewal of the Chinese nation, will be realized. Since women constitute the half sky of the Chinese population, their equal participation in social and economic affairs is an essential part of the Chinese Dream, which also echoes the goal of UN-Women in promoting gender equality and women's empowerment. The efforts by the Chinese women to pursue the Chinese Dream will undoubtedly push forward the global women's cause with greater achievement.

China also attaches great importance to the international cooperation in the field of women. The Chinese government will increase its donation to UN-Women, to show China's firm commitment and support to the work of the UN in the field of women. China is willing to continue to be deeply engaged in the work of the UN in the field of women on the basis of mutual respect, consultations on equal footing, mutual benefit and win-for-all. We are willing to work together with UN-Women and other member states to further advance the cause of women throughout the world.